How long does switching from BrainHive Consulting actually take?

An evening for most accounts. The export from BrainHive Consulting is the slow step - the import side runs in minutes once the field mapping is settled. Larger teams (50+ seats with custom field schemas) sometimes split it across two sessions: import first, reorganise the next day.

Will I lose data when I switch?

Nothing structural. The CSV/JSON export from BrainHive Consulting preserves the data: records, fields, history, and attachments come over intact. What doesn't transfer is anything tied to BrainHive Consulting-specific UI metadata (custom views, saved searches, in-app annotations) - those don't sit in the export, they sit in the source product's UI. Plan an evening to rebuild your most-used views once you're in.

What about my existing BrainHive Consulting subscription?

Run both side-by-side until you're confident, then cancel BrainHive Consulting from their side. We don't lock you in - export from Grants is one click in account settings, same as import.

Is the import path free?

The import button is open on every plan, including the free tier - we don't paywall the way out of a competitor. The data going in still has to fit your plan's per-type quotas (the free-tier caps are listed on /sales); paid plans raise those caps. If you're moving a large set, check the caps first or write to /support and we can advise.

Can I get help with the switch?

Yes. Write to /support - both founders see those threads directly. Reply within a working day. For the field-mapping itself we typically resolve things in one or two exchanges; if your dataset is unusually large or BrainHive Consulting's export shape is unfamiliar, we'll say so up front.

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Grants: the alternative to BrainHive Consulting

What moving from BrainHive Consulting to Grants actually looks like in 2026.

Switching

BrainHive

Business plan

Finn GlasCo-Founder + Engineering

·May 15, 2026·

1 min read

Grants is what people use when BrainHive Consulting stops fitting. Below is the honest side-by-side - same product surface, different posture: hosted in Germany, no third-party trackers, one honest price - plus the migration mechanics that decide whether the switch lands in an evening or in a quarter.

At a glance

BrainHive is a Hofheim-based consulting firm with offices in London and Munich. They write customised business plans in 4-21 days for €600-1,500 (standard), more for complex projects. The output is bank-ready and good - if you're applying for a Hausbank loan, a Gründungszuschuss from the Arbeitsagentur, or a generic landlord/customer-pitch business plan, BrainHive's product fits. Grants does a different job: it produces grant applications - EXIST Ideenpapier, IGP project description, KMU innovativ Skizze, Horizon EIC narrative - which use different chapter structures, different reviewer criteria, and different evidence standards than a bank business plan. PTJ reviewers want Innovationshöhe with citations to the state of the art; a bank wants a payback calculation. A great BrainHive plan still needs translation before it lands in EASY-Online.

Switching

What moving from BrainHive Consulting actually looks like

The switch goes in three rough phases: export from BrainHive Consulting, import into Grants, and reorganise what came over. Most people allocate an evening for it. The export side is where the time goes - BrainHive Consulting hands you a CSV/JSON dump and the field mapping isn't always obvious; once that's resolved the import is a couple of minutes. We don't paywall the import path or pretend it's a pro-only feature, and you can run both side-by-side while you decide.

Grants vs BrainHive Consulting: feature comparison

	Ours Grants	Theirs BrainHive Consulting
Bank-loan-ready business plan (Hausbank, KfW)
Gründungszuschuss / Arbeitsagentur format
EXIST Ideenpapier (chapter-structured, PTJ-ready)
IGP / KMU innovativ / BMBF Skizze workflow
Horizon EIC + ERC narrative structure
Pricing model	Software subscription	€600-1,500 per document
Founders write themselves (learning + control)
Delivery time	Open whenever you want	4-21 days
Bilingual EN + DE editor

When to pick which

Pick Grants when

Your goal is a public-money grant (EXIST, IGP, KMU innovativ, BMBF, Horizon) - not a bank loan or Gründungszuschuss.

You want to keep the document structure your reviewer expects, with chapters mapped to programme criteria.

You expect to write 2-3+ grant applications across your first 2 years - the workspace pays back when you reuse chapters.

Pick BrainHive Consulting when

Your single deliverable is a bank-loan business plan for a Hausbank or KfW StartGeld application.

You want to delegate the writing entirely for a one-shot document with no follow-on application planned.

Your timeline is 4-21 days and you don't intend to learn the structure yourself.

Step by step

Export from BrainHive Consulting

Find the export option in BrainHive Consulting's account settings. Most tools provide a CSV or JSON download. Save the dump locally - that's the source of truth for the next step.

Account settings → Export / Download data

Pick the broadest format the tool offers (usually JSON)

Map fields in Grants

Open the import tool in Grants. BrainHive Consulting's field names rarely match Grants' 1:1; the import flags any unmapped columns so you can pair them up before anything commits.

Account settings → Import

Resolve the mapping prompts the tool surfaces

Run the import

Run the import. Grants shows a preview of the first parsed rows in the import dialog so you can sanity-check the column mapping + a sample of records before anything commits. If you're nervous about a large dump, import a small subset first, verify it landed the way you expected, then run the full file.

Re-create your views, tags, saved searches

BrainHive Consulting-specific UI metadata (custom views, saved filters, in-app annotations) doesn't transfer with the data export. Spend an evening rebuilding the views you used most - usually a 30-minute job once you've done it once.

Cancel BrainHive Consulting when you're confident

Run both side-by-side for a couple of weeks if you want to be sure. When you're confident, cancel the BrainHive Consulting subscription from their side. Grants keeps your export option self-serve in account settings - no lock-in either direction.

Switching from BrainHive Consulting

The five questions we get most often before someone moves their data over.

Start with Grants

Free plan, no credit card. We host in Germany. Export + delete are self-serve.

Written by

Finn Glas

Co-Founder + Engineering

Finn is one of the Co-Founders. He owns the engineering side, the infrastructure, and most of the late-night fixes that ship before anyone notices.

finn.glas at aicuflow dot comLinkedIn Website